Posted on 09/08/2002 6:19:13 AM PDT by scab4faa
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 6 — As the only American network reporter currently on the ground in Baghdad, NBC’s Ron Allen spoke with MSNBC.com about the current mood in the country and what it’s like to operate there as the drums of war grow louder in the United States.
MSNBC.com: Describe the scene in Iraq right now. How has the growing drumbeat of war affected the average person there?
NBC’s Ron Allen: I know people here are very concerned and very worried about the growing threat of war. They’re even more concerned because they’re hearing that the United States is determined to change the regime in Baghdad, and that could mean that if there is war and fighting, it could happen in major cities like the capital and other places around the country, bringing it very close to home. In the past, most of the fighting has been outside of the city, and during the Gulf War, it was close to the Kuwaiti border. So, there’s a lot of concern.
I know the government here is very, very angry, very concerned, feeling again that they’re not getting a fair hearing in the court of public opinion, that they’re being demonized. I just heard from the director of the media center here that the government feels very strongly that Iraq has fulfilled all of its commitments under the U.N. Security Council resolutions and that the United States has no right to try to change the government here — a government that, according to Iraqi officials at least, is much loved and very respected.
MSNBC.com: You’re just one of a few reporters on the ground in Iraq right now. Tell us a little about what it’s like to report from there, especially as an American under the current circumstances.
Allen: Generally speaking, there’s a professional arrangement between the journalists — even us American ones — and the Iraqi government. They tell us what they feel, and we try to portray their point of view. We try not to take sides; we try to be objective. You try to be fair, and you try to tell people what they’re trying to say.
Whenever we go out on a shoot, whenever we attempt to interview people, whenever we make a request to do anything, the request has to be approved by a ministry official. We are escorted everywhere around town. Over the years, our movements have been more or less restricted depending on what the government assumes our intentions are and what our agenda might be. So far on this trip, we’ve only been here for a day, so it’s hard to say what we’ll be able to accomplish this time.
MSNBC.com: What do you hear from people on the street? Are they angry at the American threats?
Allen: There’s a lot of anger in this country about America. It’s been that way for years. The Iraqis blame America for a lot of the problems here. They blame America for 12 years of sanctions that have impoverished vast numbers of people.
There’s no love lost between these two nations. Even younger Iraqis — we’ve visited universities here over the years, and I was at one just a few months ago — there’s a feeling that the United States is a superpower that is arrogant, that lies, that does not like Arab people and pursues politics that are not in the interests of the world. And I think those feelings are going to be even more intense as the American rhetoric increases.
MSNBC.com: Is there any sense there that people want Saddam to go?
Allen: No is the short answer. It’s very hard to get people here to say anything negative about the government, to say anything negative about their leader. The comments you always hear from people — whether you stop them in the street or in the market or in their homes — is that they are always very positive and respectful of the Iraqi leader.
The view is very different outside the country, of course — in London and other places where there is an opposition movement. But here, inside the country, there’s never a disparaging word heard.
The Iraqi people tell him what they have to say to not be killed by Hussein. My feeling is they actually hate Saddam and can't wait for him to be gone.
Well, what do you expect? The people there only hear what Saddam lets them hear. They also know that the government is screening every single journalist's reports - why risk your life telling how you really feel?
No kidding!
This clown should have been a reporter in Berlin or Tokyo at the start of WWII. After all, Hitler's Nazis and Tojo's imperialist military had their points of view which are just as valid as ours.</sarcasm>
Amazing how the lies flow so freely from these guys.
like... "the Great Satan"?????
Good. Eventually, they might figure out that Saddam is the real source of all of their pain and they can do their dirty work for us. After all, the Iraqi people (outside of the leadership) stand to gain the most from his ouster.
The media are more concerned with indocrinating the West than reporting of the thugs in that regime.
Hey PMSnbc.com, why don't you tell us the story about how Saddam son tortured (and then injected with rat poison) an ordinary Iraqi man because he stopped him from raping his cousin? Even Newsweek printed that!
Pursues politics that are not in the interest of the world? ROTFLMAO!!!! Why didn't Allen ask some of these brilliant university students for examples of Iraq pursuing politics in the interest of the world? The only one that I can thing of is Iraq's pursuit of its own destruction.
"The comments you always hear from people — whether you stop them in the street or in the market or in their homes — is that they are always very positive and respectful of the Iraqi leader."
Those two sentences taken together are all the proof you need that the mainstream media are idiots.
When the book: "The Rise and Fall of the Free World" is written, it will become clear that the "fall" began with 24/7 cable "news".
I guess it all depends upon what the meaning of "objective" is...
I stopped watching this idiocy about two years ago, and that frees up a good deal of time for more productive pursuits.
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